Image: Ynetnews

Lebanon Parliament Votes To Abolish Death Penalty, Replacing Sentences With Life Imprisonment

11 August, 2026.Global Politics.49 sources

Lebanon's parliament abolished death penalty, replacing with life imprisonment plus aggravated hard labor. First Arab and Middle Eastern country to formally end capital punishment.

49 outlets2 divides1 fact unevenly coveredseverity 5/10

Beat 1 · The verdict

RFI uniquely links abolition to ending extradition blocks; others skip that motive

Beat 2 · The divide, quote v quote

“spectre of capital punishment had previously prevented Beirut from obtaining the extradition of suspects”

RRFI (Western Mainstream)

“It is unclear how aggravated hard labour would be enforced, with some legislators saying the terms of the new punishment are not yet clear.”

AAl Jazeera (West Asian)

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Full story

Lebanon ends capital punishment

Lebanon’s parliament voted on Tuesday to abolish the death penalty, making it the first country in the Middle East to formally end capital punishment.

“making it the first country in the Middle East to do so”

Al Jazeera

Justice Minister Adel Nassar, who was in parliament, called the vote “a historic step,” and the speaker’s office said lawmakers signed off after making several amendments.

ABC News

The new system replaces the death sentence with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour, while Lebanon had observed an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004.

At the end of 2025, 85 people were facing death sentences, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice’s Directorate of Prisons, even as courts continued to issue dozens of death sentences.

Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director Heba Morayef praised the move as “a major milestone and a victory for human rights in the country.”

Sources

Al Jazeera

Hezbollah opposes; rights praise

The vote passed with a majority of the 128-member assembly, with the exception of the parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah, which opposed abolition and did not immediately issue a formal response.

Hezbollah explained its opposition by arguing that the death penalty should not be abolished before lawmakers complete work on the general amnesty bill, and it said some prisoners sentenced to death could effectively benefit twice.

Al Jazeera

Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the move marked “a definitive break with a cruel punishment that should never have been imposed.”

The European Union welcomed the move, saying it “testifies Lebanon’s commitment to respect, protect and fulfil the right to life,” while the BBC reported the government would launch an immediate investigation in a different context, underscoring that the death-penalty vote itself was framed as a rights milestone by multiple outlets.

Questions remain over how aggravated hard labour would be enforced, with some legislators saying the terms of the new punishment are not yet clear.

Sources

Ynetnews

The Independent

Amnesty law and next steps

Lebanon’s abolition of the death penalty is occurring as parliament also debates a controversial general amnesty law, described as the largest since the end of its 15-year civil war in 1990.

“The bill still needs to be sent to the cabinet and then to President Joseph Aoun for approval”

The National

The amnesty law could reduce sentences or even release some people convicted of violence offences, and family members of Lebanese soldiers and servicemen killed in attacks have repeatedly protested against it.

MP Simon Abi Ramia said, “Lebanon today is taking a step towards a more humane state, one that respects dignity and the right to life,” while the speaker’s office said the legislation was signed off after amendments.

The bill still needs to be sent to the cabinet and then to President Joseph Aoun for approval, and the National reported that any death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment.

Amnesty International and other rights groups urged Lebanon to turn the de facto moratorium into full abolition, with Human Rights Watch urging Lebanon to “declare a firm break from this cruel practice.”

Sources

The National

Story read · 49 outlets · 2 disagreements · 1 fact unevenly covered

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